Vibrations
by SilentProtagonist000
Summary: Lance comes on to Silver one morning, but Silver's feelings for a certain young champion might be too strong for him to reciprocate. Mastershipping and implied Preciousmetalshipping. Lance/Silver and Gold/Silver. Silver POV. Gameverse.
1. Vibrations

He was there, and then he was gone.

I was amazed at how quickly a Dragonite could fly; it was as fast as a supersonic jet, but not quite as fast as how Lance's anger boiled up. On the exterior, he seemed complacent, level-headed and able to take care of any situation that had him in seemingly inexplicable chains. But once my frustration to him at reached a maximum and I began swearing under my breath at him and his stupid orders, his hotheadedness would flare like the color his hair (being nearly identical to mine, it didn't surprise me that yet another redhead was quick to rage, like me). Before I could react, we were shouting at each other, the vein on Lance's forehead that popped out whenever he was strained beating like a blue hose against his temple. We screamed and thundered, blaming each other for the lamest things, like how poorly our training was going that day or the fact that I "understood nothing" because I was a decade younger than Lance. Then, just when I was on a roll with picking his bone, he leaped up upon his Dragonite and soared through the open canopy above the Indigo Plateau battlefield.

I tried not to watch him go. I need to cool off, he'd snapped before he'd miraculously disappeared at the speed of sound. Frankly, I never liked it when he was angry, because then we would both storm off and not speak to each other for a few hours. I used to relish being alone; loneliness was never lonely to me. It was comforting, like an old friend I was used to seeing every so often.

But ever since I'd begun training with Lance, I'd come to resent being alone. And that was strange indeed. I had my Pokemon, but I always felt afraid and solitary, even when they were around. I never felt alone with Lance.

Never.

Still, he was gone right now, and I tried to convince myself that he would be back soon. Lance's recharging of his composure usually took anywhere between fifteen minutes and an hour, although this was the first time he'd been directly mad at me—most often, it was something Karen or Clair had said to him or losing badly in a Pokemon battle, but the latter hardly ever happened, so it was almost always Clair or Karen. He never took look to get over  
them, since they insulted him every time they crossed paths.

But he'd never exploded toward me before. Therefore, I couldn't gauge how long he'd be away from me.

I shook my head, frowning bitterly as Freligatr and Gengar studied my anguish form the center of the battlefield, where they were sitting meekly and had been idle when Lance had absolutely blown up. They and Lance's other Dragonite and Charizard had become reticent and ceased battling when Lance and I had begun fighting, even though the four were working on a crucial, valuable move that Lance was trying to painstakingly teach mine—Gengar, using a self-eliminating move like Selfdestruct, and Freligatr Protecting itself would allow him to ride the shockwave of Gengar's attack and land additional damage to the enemy's Pokemon. Lance himself couldn't employ in the combination, but he knew my Pokemon could, so he had made it part of his duty as my instructor to show my team by using his own as decoys. Unfortunately, the training was very time-consuming and exhaustive—Gengar couldn't last through more than a few Selfdestructs without injuring itself badly, and Lance's Pokemon gradually grew weary from the constant damage.

And maybe it was because of those factors that Lance had used Explosion himself and lucked out in it being a critical hit. My ego was seriously bruised at the way we'd fought. Already, I was worried about him. What if he doesn't want to come back? What if he dismisses me as his protégé?

_Why do I even care?_

"All right," I finally said to no one in particular—maybe the four Pokemon at the center of the field, who had all glanced at me as I vocalized for the first time since the argument. They had probably been watching the entire scene prior and gawping like a bunch of women viewing a soap opera. "Lance wants me to learn this move, right? So let's keep practicing. We should get it right so he doesn't get pissed off again."

At this, I noticed Dragonite and Charizard exchange uneasy looks. I knew exactly what those snots were thinking: Um, Silver, we aren't allowed to train without Lance here. My Pokemon were free to do whatever they wished while I trained solo because they were mine, but Lance had a strict rule: Don't use his Pokemon unless he's around. Why? Because they're his, of course. And like a child who didn't want his priceless toys tarnished, he flatly refused for me to release them without permission in order to level up my own team. The restriction was understandable, of course.

_But I'm so mad at him. I really don't give a shit anymore._

"I don't care what Lance'll think!" I shouted at Dragonite and Charizard, who jolted in surprise at my coarse tone. "He just totally chewed me out on no justifiable grounds. He can kiss my ass. C'mon, you want to be stronger for him, don't you? Then let's get stronger! Quit being pussies and battle!"

Dragonite and Charizard glanced at Freligatr and Gengar. Then at me. Then back to my Pokemon. Then at each other. Then at the ground. Expressing simultaneous heavy sighs (which were indeed heavy and I'm glad weren't directed at me—Charizard and Dragonite expelling breath at the same time could make a forest shake), they lifted their heads and shrugged. To me, this translated to: Fine, whatever. We're game. But if Lance finds out, we aren't vouching for you.

"Good. Nice to have you two join us." I made sharp eye contact with Freligatr and Gengar, nodding briskly. "Okay, you guys. One more run-through, and then we'll call it a day. Freligatr." Freligatr froze and dipped its head, locking its jaw with a thrill. Closing its eyes, it allowed a thin green veil to drop before it, signaling the Protect move's commencement. It then proceeded to open its eyes and sneak a clandestine nod toward Gengar, whose excitement glanced off the purple sheen of its transparent body like an aesthetic ricochet.

"Gengar, use Selfdestruct!" I cried. Eagerly, Gengar sprung up in the air and charged its power, glowing glee with the delight of an Electrode, who did this kind of attack for practically a living. With a slight but almost sensual luminescence, Gengar suddenly exploded, the impact spreading like melted butter across the field, leaving no corner untouched. Bracing itself for the jar of the earthquake, Freligatr tensed as it felt the vibration ring out behind it. Dragonite and Chariard howled and recoiled, the violence of the attack leaving them reeling. Instantaneously after, Freligatr began to be lifted from its feet from the invisible wave, its shield safeguarding any aftershock from Selfdestruct.

A skilled surfer, Freligatr rode the swell to where Dragonite and Charizard stood, dazed and unable to fly away from my approaching Pokemon. Poised for just the right moment, as Freligatr arrived mere feet from their forms, I bellowed, "Hydro Pump, now!"

And Freligatr did just as I asked—shooting a cannon of stinging sea water from its mouth, the move connected perfectly with Dragonite and Charizard. Charizard, highly vulnerable to the Water type, fainted almost instantly, but Dragonite toughed it out for a few more seconds before finally wavering in nearly withstood defeat, falling to the ground with a resonating THUMP. An enormous cloud of dust swathed its swooning silhouette, the final threads of Selfdestruct quickly brushing that billowing mass away. A job well done, Freligatr stood lightly on the ground, its health not drained one iota, thanks to its well-constructed protection. Gengar was the only casualty on my side—it lay immobile in the very heart of the battleground, its vigor utterly drained from its attack. Explosion and Selfdestruct were tiring moves for the user and often made them unable to battle.

Amazement and relief washed away any apprehension I might have had before the rapid-fire scene, flashing before my eyes so swiftly that I barely knew what was going on. Giddiness replaced that, soon accompanied by triumph as I fell to the platform beneath my feet upon my knees, laughing hysterically. "I… we did it!" I cried to Freligatr, who was the only one coherent enough to listen. "Freligatr, we did it! That was perfect! Arceus, that was great!" Even as I regained myself enough to return Gengar and Freligatr to their Pokeballs, I still continued to laugh, tears trickling down my face at the victorious turn. This was the first time—the first time ever—that I had made Lance's Pokemon faint from this strategy. Freligatr and Gengar were unable to get it right until now—in fact, Lance had sworn at one point that using this technique for them was useless, for they would never learn.

But they did. _They did it! Ha! Ha ha ha! I just proved that asshole wrong! My Pokemon are powerful! And I am strong, too! I am not weak, I am strong!_

"Silver." The voice suddenly materializing behind me was frigid like the floor of the Ice Path. The chill reached by bones, turning them into literal icicles as I heard the lukewarm fury bubble in his voice. "What did I tell you about using my Pokemon to train when I'm not around?"

I whipped my head around, and sure enough, through the smear of tears blurring my vision, stood Lance. Even when I was kneeling, I was considerably smaller than him—he was well over a head or two taller when I didn't slouch, as well as being a decade my senior. His furry red eyebrows were turned down in a furrow of anger, the same expression from our fight unchanged. And that hair—his spiked shock of flaming titan hair—was glistening with sweat, as he'd clearly been doing some sort of onerous physical activity while he'd been gone.  
And his cape. That stupid cape, attached to that stupid blue outfit. That's so stupid. He's so stupid.

"Um," I croaked. "… I'm sorry?"

"Be sorry later," Lance growled, pointing an accusing finger at me. "When I make rules, they are to be followed. They aren't legs. You aren't supposed to break them, kid. I thought I'd made myself clear!"

I grimaced. I hated it when he called me "kid." I had a name. "You yelled at me for no good reason and then skulked off like a child!" I snapped, springing to my feet like a wind-up toy in defense. "I'm pissed, Lance! I'm pissed, and when I'm pissed, I'm damn good at battling!"

"Damn good? Damn good?" I'd hit a sore spot somewhere in there, because Lance's head vein was prominent again. He jabbed the same finger from me to his fainted Dragonite and Charizard on the field. "You nearly killed them! And you call that good?" He frowned deeply and genuinely. "I thought I was working the Team Rocket out of your blood."

"Team Rocket is not my namesake," I rumbled. "Just because my dad runs the organization doesn't mean I support them. I hate them. Their Pokemon are all weak."

Lance sighed and returned Dragonite and Charizard to their Pokeballs, having heard this quip of mine a thousand times. "Pokemon aren't weak, Silver," he said. "If a Pokemon is weak, it means his trainer is, too. People can be strong if they make themselves that way, just like how Pokemon level up. It's a choice. Strength is not determined at birth." He turned to me.

"You know that very well. Your former opinion was the antithesis, but now you know better. My Pokemon are not weak—and neither are yours." He pinched me on the shoulder, and I yelped.

"That means both of us as trainers have incredible skill. Team Rocket has to possess some form of brawn in order to get as far as they have been, am I correct?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I'm not supporting them, Silver," Lance said firmly. "I'm only making a point. If Pokemon are mistreated, they are often tricked into thinking they are strong. This is how Team Rocket moved through the ranks. It is trainers like you and I that have real strength—because we respect our team, and they respect us as their masters." He stared me in the eyes with his dark, unmovable brown gaze. "Am I right?"

I scowled. "You just like hearing yourself talk," I said.

That made Lance smile—but only briefly. "Maybe," he said with a small trace of mirth. There was a pause as he considered what to say next, because I certainly wasn't going to make small talk with this bastard that I'd become accustomed to over a course of about six months. "I saw that, by the way," he told me. "I've been here the entire time. You, Gengar and Freligatr handled that technique extremely well. I knew that if I perhaps let myself vent and allowed you to be by yourself that you might make miracles. And you did. Well done."

My jaw dropped. "So…" I processed this. "… You were basically faking the rage the whole time?"

"I was, until you about disintegrated my Pokemon," Lance said. "Now I'm actually mad."

"I can't believe you."

"Maybe not, but it worked, did it not?" Lance was correct on that, at least. Maybe not the Team Rocket theory, but yes, his tactic had come through. Damn him. Why is he so good?

"I suppose," I mumbled.

"You need a reward," Lance suggested.

I gave him a quizzical look. "Does that happen to be food? I'm starving. I haven't had anything since lunch, and it's almost six."

Lance smiled. "Maybe later," he said vaguely. Reaching out a little lazily toward me, he said, "Give me a hug, my star pupil." Hesitantly, I stepped into his arms, welcoming his embrace by wrapping my arms around his waist as his draped across my shoulders. I trusted Lance enough to be touched by him now—he was a friend, an ally. Just like Gold, whom I always anticipated contact from. Gold was a very touchy person, and he seemed to be proud of this fact. Constant hugs, pats on the head, handshakes, and heads resting on shoulders. I was okay with physical contact with Lance, but with Gold, I kind of looked forward to it now whenever I saw him.

Because Gold feels like… happiness.

But my warm, euphoric feeling as I hugged Lance congenially nearly diminished when I felt one hand from my mentor stray from my shoulders and travel slowly southward. It came to rest at the small of my back, a place where I was extremely sensitive. An involuntary shiver passed under my skin, causing goosebumps to rise on my clothed arms and legs. I found myself swallowing—not out of nervousness, but discomfort. "Lance?" I squeaked, the pitch of voice having risen significantly.

Lance moved back a little bit so he could look at me, his other hand inching to grab and rub my neck soothingly. The hairs on my arms stood up on end, this unwarranted touch bothering me. When I locked gazes with Lance, I was surprised not to see the usually fatherly or scolding expression he usually had, like a teacher would see a student. That was our relationship, after all.

Not according to Lance. His eyes were now almost black, staring upon me with the intensity of a hungry predator to his prey. The emotion in his eyes was unmistakable. I'd never seen it directed toward me, but I'd definitely noticed a touch of it in my father's eyes whenever he spoke of my mother.

_Oh, Arceus. It's lust._

"You're very cute when you blush," Lance whispered, his voice emanating from deep within his throat now, a seductive rumble. Unknowingly, my face had turned beet red at this, my body beginning to quake, somewhat out of fear and somewhat out of unsettlement. No one had even looked at me like this before. What was I supposed to do?

"Ah, um, er." I tried to sputter out words, but Lance placed his index finger on my lips, effectively shutting me up.

Innately, the internal me saw this as a pacifier and treated it literally as such—almost instinctively, like a baby at its mother's breast, I drew Lance's finger into my mouth. Sucking frantically to prevent myself from talking and to give myself something to do, I almost didn't notice Lance moaning.

Almost.

He was staring down at me intensely, his mouth open just slightly and his eyes growing heavily, half-lidded with what I was praying wasn't pleasure. His moan sounded like the content purr of a dragon, a sound that infused itself in my bones and caused me to shake violently. The instant I realized what I was doing to him, I quit sucking and stood there like a moron, hoping that he would remove his finger from my mouth.

Lance gave me a very dirty smile (as I noticed with completely horror) as he drew his index finger from between my lips, a thin string of my saliva connected to the digit. "Well, well," he said with a smirk. "You naughty little cocktease."

_Cock-?_I tried not to barf at that.

Lance proceeded to pull me so close to him that our whole bodies chafed against one another. For a reason that repulsed me, I physically reacted to that—and not in a negative manner, either. Lance's muscles were bound tight with mine, and that made an electrifying pulse of desire surge through me. I tried with immense difficulty to banish the amazing way his touch felt all of a sudden. _He called you a cocktease,_ I repeated over and over to myself, like a mantra. _A cocktease. Silver, if that isn't the most degrading—_

My attempt to sate my quarreling conscience was interrupted by Lance's mouth on my neck, nipping and sucking with reckless, hungry abandon. It was at that moment that I realized the second-most sensitive part of my body was that very appendage—and I tensed and shuddered at the rhythm of Lance's kisses. My knees felt jellylike and I resisted the urge to pass out then, my breathing turning torrid as he ran his tongue from the base of my collarbone all the way up to the cleft of my chin.

"L-Lance, please st—"

"Stop?" Lance paused to collect himself. He seemed just as breathless from this exercise as I was. "I don't think your body wants me to, Silver." I had been clinging to his cape, hanging on for dear life as he ravished me gently. My breath was ragged, either from fear or longing, or maybe a combination of the two. I tried to push him away, but Lance was persistent—gathering me up once again, he began to nip roughly at my earlobe. Without intention, I released a tiny whimper.

"You like that?" Lance murmured in my ear, his wafting air hot against my skin. He began to do it again, and I mewled like a kitten at the mercy of a tomcat.

_Lance, no—_

His lips went to my eyelids, kissing them both gently.

_No, I don't—_

The hand that had been formerly on the small of my back slid to my backside, squeezing playfully.

_I don't know if I—_

After lingering there, the lofty hand snuck its way under my shirt.

_If I want this yet, because—_

His roving hand pinched me.

_Because I think I'm in love—_

He pressed his lips urgently against mine, slipping his tongue inside.

_In love with—_

My body went rigid with alarm. It was as if I hadn't at all perceived anything that had happened between myself and Lance just seconds previously. The revelation shook my soul to its very antechamber, rattling the ribcage that contained the wild beast that was my heart.

My best friend. My only friend. My mentor was seducing me, and all I could think of was him.  
I was surrounded my fright. Darkness loomed, and the pleasure Lance had been so generously giving me ebbed away rapidly. What replaced it was utter numbness. I became numb to Lance, to his hands, to his lips. He didn't even notice as a lone tear trickled down my cheek.

_… I'm in love with Gold._


	2. Waterfalls

_If you run away now, you'll regret it._

The coldness in Lance's voice then had chilled me deeply like a blizzard. His words rang through my head, chiming and clanging with the bitterness I had felt from so many people my entire life—Lance just being another disdainful glare to add to that collection. The way he had looked at me when I had pushed him away, my face red and flustered from his unwanted (_wanted_) caresses and kisses, was the unmistakable sign of red dragon anger. I hadn't meant to reject him so suddenly—I just—Gold had been—the entire time.

I couldn't think of Lance. Not when he had turned my insides into mush and my legs into barely supportive pillars of gel. Not when he had slid his hands against my skin, felt me with such deft fingers that caused me to lose my senses and be turned on only to the perception of feeling. Not when his lips, disgustingly soft—

_Yuck. When did I become such a… such a… ridiculous poet?_

Indignantly, I rolled up the legs of my jeans, somewhat repulsed at my start-white sticks of legs. I'd never been at a healthy weight, no matter how much I ate, and that bothered me deeply—I didn't want to be thin. I wasn't a woman. I desired muscle, build, power. _It's all my father's fault. He never fed me when I was with him. Some days, I starved. Which was just fine; that bastard only served to make me stronger through that._

I sat down on the smooth, frigid stone floor of Tojo Falls, removing my socks and my shoes, tossing them haphazardly to one corner of the compact cavern I had discovered once during a training session with Lance. It was extremely difficult to reach this enclosed room on the second level of the steaming vault that was Johto's final training ground before Victory Road and the Elite Four; it was tucked back into the shadows near the deafening roar of Tojo Falls's largest cascade, entered by squeezing with strain into a jagged vertical crack that peaked at about seven feet into the wall where it rested. I was skinny, so it was easy for me to shimmy into the crevice that wasn't much wider than my own body. When I'd shown it to Lance, however, he couldn't even get one forearm in. He was too thick and muscular to come into my little niche.

_Muscular. Oh God, he is beyond muscular. He's––_

Inside my secret chamber was perhaps the most beautiful natural formation in any region—looming walls made of black cobble, hewn by millions of years of erosion from the waterfalls. Shimmering pebbles were embedded in the monolithic barriers, giving a dreamy glint to the place. In the very center was a steaming pool, the perfect temperature for warm baths and feet soaking. The place was dimly lit from the glimmering stones, but you needed a Pokemon with Flash to see the true charm of this room.

Essentially, I'd found a very small but very clean natural hot springs.

And it was all mine.

I'd come here alone a few times before now to relax after a long day of training with Lance––_would you STOP thinking about him?_––but now I was here to collect my thoughts. I was here to cleanse the events of roughly twenty minutes ago from my mind and try to figure out what I was to do next. It seemed almost obvious that I was not going back to the Indigo Plateau—I'd rather die than do that. I was a permanent resident, but after what Lance had done to me (and how I had answered him), it was clear that he wouldn't exactly welcome me back warmly. And besides, whom would I stay with if he refused to mentor me anymore?

Karen? She might take me in, but she was a tad crazy. Her constant exposure to Dark Pokemon must have unplugged some of her mental circuits. Plus, Clair was her best friend and came to visit her all the time—and Clair hated me, probably because Lance (_STOP IT_) doted on me constantly. Karen was out.

Koga? No way. Koga would be an excellent teacher—if I were alive after enough training with him. Koga was a tyrant. There would be no way I'd live with him scot free.

Bruno? Maybe, but he was kind of boring. Karen told me once that he'd never gotten a date in his entire life. He was attractive enough; he was just seriously antisocial. "Even more so than you!" She'd caterwauled to me before Lance threatened to fire her. Karen had flipped him the bird and had thrown the pancakes she'd made that morning directly into Lance's lap. I recall how peevish he'd been about the impossibly sticky stains.

Will? Absolutely not. He was beyond creepy.

With a despondent sigh of a forlorn reject, I dipped my naked feet into the hot springs, allowing the heat of the water to wash over my sweaty and rancid feet with prompt healing. Right now, this private cavity was my best friend; it enveloped me with its cordial love, the walls almost breathing and staring gently at me with a sentient concern. I felt the cool breeze of the brisk air that filled Tojo Falls outside the crack, but I could have sworn that gust that splayed against my back was the exhale of the living room's soul.

My Magneton and Crobat—Crobat had flown me here and Magneton was illiminating the cave darkness for me—were hovering idly beside me, their coiled and tense nerves that were always poised for attack beginning to unwind as the humid moisture wafting from the glassy surface of the hot springs made them docile. Crobat had lowered itself into the ground sleepily, humming and tittering softly, content in this environment. Magneton's three eyes were closed as if it were meditating, minor sparks crackling from its metallic body.

"You guys like this?" I asked quietly, smiling at the peace of my Pokemon. Treating them like humans no longer felt odd or foreign to me—since I'd arrived at the Indigo Plateau, my objectivity toward them as battle devices had slowly dwindled to a backburner. They were my partners and friends now, not war machines.

_My ugly father would argue otherwise._

Neither of them responded to my question. They'd both fallen asleep.

I leaned back on my hands, letting their reticence slip. It was fine that I didn't have anyone to talk to right now—I much preferred solitude to human company, anyway. Lance wasn't here. That was really all I needed. Staring up at the ceiling of the fragile, gorgeous hot springs, I pensively focused on a rock that looked interestingly like an Aipom. With a ruminative, tranquil sigh, I gave only the faintest smile. _No civilization, no Lance trying to feel me up, no training. Just me and my Pokemon, spending quality time together.  
It's so nice to be alone. I'm so placated that I'm not even thinking about––_

"SILVER! Is that you? I heard you talking! Dude, are you in this crack? What the hell? It's so thin! You're such an anorexic ass to fit in here!"

_… Gold._

Sure enough, that familiar, sanguine voice boomed and bounced off the cave walls wasn't a hallucination or any sort of wistful fantasy. When I whipped my head around in devastated surprise, I saw the left half of Gold's chubby frame wiggling wildly, endeavoring with a few exasperated grunts and mute expletives to get through the entrance. After a few minutes of myself wordlessly watching this comical monstrosity, Gold finally wedged himself through with a resounding "pop" and appeared on my side of the crack, brushing the dust off his jacket and coal-black knickerbockers cheerfully.

My rival stood there, his hands on his hips and a wide grin painting his blemish-free face, the red hoodie that hugged his broad torso looking a bit frayed and worn from constant use on his journey. The black hair that adorned his head was longer than I remember it, but the frizzy mop was still slovenly piled beneath his trademark gold-and-black cap, turned backwards. The defining pair of goggles that sat attached across his crown seemed that they had never been removed and used; a thin coating of smut covered the outside. Gold certainly wasn't fat, but he was chubby—and I wasn't sure if that's what attracted me to him or not, that extra padding of his. It certainly wasn't his pompous personality.

_His. Gold's._

There was no mistaking the appearance or the voice or the way he stood, like he was on top of the world. Here he was, standing right in front of me, the bane of my existence and also the very reason that kept me alive. He was here, the boy my age who had forced me to reject a man twice my age because he just wouldn't stop clinging to me, even in my mind. Physically, he was a barnacle.

And dammit, he'd attached himself to my heart, too.

I'd never felt as weak in my entire life as I did now.

Gold sized me up and only smiled wider. "Oh, wait, sorry about the anorexic quip. You look  
really well-fed now."

My dry throat suddenly unknotted. "Are you calling me fat?" I demanded to know.

"Yeah, I am," Gold said bluntly. "You're such a fatass, Silver. Soooooooo fat. You make me look like a runway model. Nah, just joshing you, Silvie. I'm the porker here." He noticed the hot springs that my feet were submersed in. "Whoa, a hot springs! This place is awesome. How come I didn't know it was here? I've been in Tojo Falls more times than I can count."

"You can't count that high."

Gold laughed. "Still a jerk, I see. Six months doesn't change people," he remarked. Reaching down, he clumsily undid his shoelaces and discarded of his footwear in the same corner where I had flung mine. One of his shoes landed on top of mine, resting comfortably, as if that was their fate. Tromping over to me with heavy footfalls, he sat to my left and dipped his feet into the water. He took a minute to absorb the emotion in the liquid before tilting his head back and releasing a hushed moan.

"Wow," he sighed, glancing at me with calm eyes. "This feels _so_ incredible." He was so close that his foot began to chafe against mine as he made more noises of pleasure.  
_Don't you dare, Silver. This is_ not _arousing. THIS IS NOT AROUSING._

"So where have you been?" Gold's voice shook me violently back to reality. "I haven't seen you since… when was it? The Dragon's Den in Blackthorn? Where did you go?"

I shuffled in my seat nervously. "I-I was apprenticing," I said.

"Oh, so you didn't die?" Gold posed the question as if it were perfectly normal. I did not respond at first, so he wisely rephrased the question. "Whom were you apprenticing under? Six months is an awfully long time to train with someone. Usually it's two to three months at the most, bound by legal contract—"

I interrupted him. "It… wasn't official," I confessed.

Gold arched one eyebrow. "Oh? How did you get around that legal loophole, then?" He inquired. "Registered trainers are required to have an indenture for their protégés. Did you offer your body in exchange for tips?" Gold found his cheap joke hilarious, for he began to cackle like a mischievous Haunter.

A lump slithered its way down my throat. _Don't lose your cool, Silver. You are strong._ "He… he offered to teach me. I lived with him for free room and board as long as I promised to show improvement."

"Oh, so it wasn't a hot chick?" Gold seemed disappointed. "Too bad. Again, who was it?"

"The training was difficult."

"That isn't what I asked, Silver. Quit dodging my question. Who was it?"

The blockage in my throat was now almost unfeasible to overcome. I didn't want to say his name. Not that name, that accursed name of the one who betrayed my trust. I sat, gnawing on my lower lip, trying to muster the ability within me to tell Gold. He was my best friend, wasn't he? He wouldn't judge the man I had been training under, would he? I doubted it, but the aversion to the lilting syllables of the dragon master's had my tongue twisted inextricably.

I was afraid that if I said his name, I'd taste him again in my mouth.

Gold was patient; that was one virtue of his. He stared at me steadily, biding his time for an answer. I was sure that he'd seen the pain in my eyes. Gold knew more about my anguish than any other human being on this planet. His support and encouragement had kept me going before I'd gone to live at the Indigo Plateau, and even now—after so many months had passed languidly—his very presence served to calm me.

_He understands me so well. Just as much as––_

"Lance," I finally said. "I lived at the Indigo Plateau. He was my master."

I gauged Gold's face for a reaction—and I certainly wasn't disappointed. In ten seconds flat, Gold's eyes widened to enormous, dinner-platter proportions, and his jaw hit the floor and left his mouth as capacious as the gullies of the Grand Canyon. "Lance?" He cried. "You're kidding me! You trained under the _Pokemon Champion?_ Dude, most trainers haven't even met him! He's famous for being an enigmatic force of justice! When I fought alongside him at Mahogany Town against Team Rocket, I was honored! And you _lived_ with him? You were his pupil?" Gold took a deep breath, the verbose tirade having winded him. Clamping a hand on my shoulder, he grinned. "You are so lucky. I'd kill to be in your place."

My heart wrenched, and I spoke before I could think twice. "He kicked me out, Gold," I stammered. "We had a fight, and… he told me to leave. He said our time together was over." That was a lie. A fib so large that I felt ashamed, deceiving my best friend like this. But I could never tell him the truth—that would shock him, perhaps even to the point where it would be unlikely that he'd ever speak to me again. Lance was one aspect of my life—once a powerful ally and teacher, I'd pinned much of my personal faith on him. But now that he'd placed my affection for him in jeopardy, I needed Gold with the desperation of chronic thirst.

I knew for a fact that he did not need me. But he was nice enough to stay with a pathetic fool like me.

And that was why… why I loved him.

Suddenly, a fond brush of skin against my left thumb caused me to freeze in surprise from my reverie. Gold's hand had closed over mine, squeezing so hard I nearly lost all blood flow to that appendage. Turning my head ever so slightly, I saw Gold's fair eyes become pools of sadness and sympathy. "Silver," he whispered, like I was made of fragile rice paper and that his voice would tear me. "I'm so sorry. It's hard… to lose a friend."

The forlorn way that Gold regarded me—his face a dim glow of platonic love, so full of compassion that the overflow of emotion was almost exhausting to me—made it impossible for me to feel anything but loved at that moment. The fatigue in my slouch ebbed away; I found myself sitting up straighter. I almost found the strength to smile.

But my smiles used to only be for Lance. I'd never even smiled around Gold before I'd realized my feelings for him. _So much for that._

The empathy that Gold radiated was only esoteric; instead of sustaining, I watched as the concern swimming in his gaze fade and begin to transform into what resembled—loathing? Distaste? Chagrin?

Dissatisfaction in me?

_Gold––_

Before I could react, Gold slid his hand out of mine like he'd been electrocuted and thrust his finger accusingly at a little red nick below the end of my jawline, my auburn hair having covered it completely until now. . I tensed with sudden fear, breaking out into a freezing sweat. "Silver," he snapped, "Is this a hickey?"

My blood turned to ice and I found it hard to breathe. _That was where Lance bit…_

He frowned. "Silver…"

_No, no, no, no, don't ask!_

"Did Lance…"

_NO NO NO NO NO!_

Amazingly enough, I was rescued by the one person I'd been trying to avoid this entire time—the raging voice of Lance exploded into any following speech of Gold's, slicing into the crack as if he were standing right outside it. "SILVER! WHERE ARE YOU? I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE SOMEWHERE! SHOW YOURSELF!"

Gold and I became rigid simultaneously, and we both shot our feet out of the water as if it had suddenly been brought to boiling temperature. Scrambling over to our shoes and socks, we dressed at mach speed as I returned Magneton and Crobat to their Pokeballs, having been awoken and grumpy at Lance's outburst.

"Lance used Outrage!" Gold panted as he struggled with quivering fingers as he attempted to tie his shoes, knowing he was in deep muck if Lance found him with me. "It's super effective!"

I leapt to my feet as soon as my shoes even gave the notion of being somewhat attached to me and dove for the crack—the grotto was the sinking ship, and the crack was the escape hatch. And by God, as much as I loved him, I refused to go down with Gold. I crammed myself into the exit of my hidden enclave, wedging in horizontally instead of vertically. My shoulders, broad as they are, instantly got stuck in the narrow space. The front half of my body was protruding out into the main chamber of the second floor of Tojo Falls, and my legs were dangling moronically from where I had come.

I could feel Gold's eyes boring flaming holes into my back. In spite of the situation, he burst out laughing. "Oh, man!" He howled. "You should see yourself right now! I don't even have words, dude! I told you that you were too fat!"

I wiggled desperately in the hole, becoming more and more fearful at my incipient discovery as I only managed to further trap myself. "I thought you were joking!" I exclaimed.

Gold didn't respond to that. "You have a nice ass," he said with forged flirtation.

I turned beet red and closed my eyes, biting my lip so hard that I drew the smallest pinprick of blood. "I do not have a nice ass! Don't say stuff like that, you creep! Come help me get out of here!"

"I agree, Gold. Silver does have a nice ass. But it isn't yours to be making comments like that about it."

The foreboding tone of that voice made my face go from crayon-red to pale snow. I was almost afraid to open my eyes, but I couldn't keep them shut forever.

Lance loomed over me, his arms folded across his chest and his cape draped over one shoulder.

_… I'm so dead._


	3. Spring

_I'm so dead._

I am SO dead.

Gold, ever the idiot, decided to speak. "Does this mean we gangbang Silver?" He asked with what I assumed would have been a vacuous expression on his blank face, had I been facing him.

"No, this does NOT!" I barked. Heat was rapidly rushing to my face, no doubt creating the maddest, deepest blush that I'd ever experienced. "Why the hell would you suggest something like that? Are you stupid?"

A dark look passed over Lance's eyes. "Gold," he boomed so sinisterly that his voice bounced off the walls of Tohjo Falls and instantly paled my rosy bloom with fear. "If I catch you alone with Silver again, I won't just defeat you in the Pokemon League—I'll have Dragonite rip you apart, limb by limb, until you're nothing but a bloody stump."

An incredibly awkward silence followed. My jaw had magically unhinged from my skull, causing me to gape openly at Lance's petrifying—and possibly genuine—threat. I could hear Gold make a meek-sounding squeak behind me along with a muffled thump, indicating that he'd backed so far into my secret room that he'd hit a wall as he tried to shrink into the backdrop and make himself a natural part of the scenery. Lance, on the other hand, was glaring so viciously into the crack—overlooking me completely, as if I totally wasn't caught in such an embarrassing position—that I swore Gold would go up in flames.

Suddenly, Lance's hard, inflamed gaze shot down to me. I felt my breath hitch and my fingers go numb with fright. "Now, as for you," he growled, "you're coming with me. Give me your hands." Without even allowing me a window of time so I could do such, Lance pretentiously grabbed my forearms and started yanking. He didn't have to do much of that—Lance could probably pull a train engine if he wanted to—before I popped out noiselessly from my ensnared horizontal posture within the entrance to my little chamber. Bowling forward with a brief yelp, I tumbled into Lance's arms. He promptly threw me over his right shoulder like I was a wet blanket (albeit a light one at that) and slung his arm over my spine to keep me intact.

"Silver?" I heard Gold timidly cheep inside the small hot springs.

"If you know what's good for you," Lance rumbled, still shaking the large interior cavern of Tohjo Falls with his power, "you'll get lost. I don't want to see you again until you come to challenge me." Swinging around so quickly that I felt a bit of snot run out of my nose from the gust, Lance marched crisply away from the nook under the roaring waterfall.

So stunned that I couldn't say a word, I let Lance carry me until we got close to the Kanto exit of Tohjo Falls, sunlight streaming in from the fresh springtime outdoors. Judging from the way the shadows pirouetted inside Tohjo Falls, I estimated that it was late afternoon. Lance had tried to seduce me around lunchtime. _Have I been here that long?_

"Hey," I finally said. Lance didn't slow; he just kept walking, mind affixed on the task ahead. "We weren't doing anything, you suspicious old geezer. We were just soaking our feet in the hot springs."

Instead of words, Lance responded by reaching over with his left hand and slapping my ass so hard that it stung. I cringed and bit back tears of anguish.

"The hell was that for?" I cried. "That hurt, you moron!"

Still nothing.

_Petulant dirtbag._

We broke the threshold of the Kanto egress, and I found myself enveloped in a cool, tender breeze that hugged my cheeks with its benevolence. I caught a wiff of blooming wildflowers and tree sap as Lance moved past a clump of blossoms in the meadow that was nearby the entrance to Victory Road. The sky was a dynamic blue, offering a few scattered, fluffy clouds here and there that resembled a lively herd of Mareep. A petal from one of the flowers in the departing cluster shook loose from the soft wind and drifted upward, tickling my nose. I sneezed.

_Wow, it's… kind of nice out here. It's been ages since I've been on this Route. Maybe I should've stuck around outside instead. Gold probably wouldn't have found me._

I didn't have long to admire the beautiful landscape, though, because at the first sign of a patch of long grass, Lance lifted me up off his shoulder and threw me down—not roughly—into the foliage. My rear end hit the moist soil first, earning an "oof" out of me. Lance towered above me, his direction to the sun casting an ominous shadow over my recoiling body. His rage was now directed at me as he lowered down, his anger radiating like warmth off his body, encompassing him as a dragon would.

"There is a price to running away from me," Lance growled. "Did you really think that by hiding, you could also hide from the consequences?"

My mouth felt like cotton as I tried to speak. "Lance, I wasn't—"

"Shut up," Lance snapped. Kneeling down to my level, he leaned in so closely that his breath rushed onto my face, tepid and smoldering (and smelling vaguely like butterscotch). "I'm going to make you regret leaving me in the dust, Silver. And when I'm done with you, you won't be able to stand up, let alone walk in a straight line."

I whimpered. For once in my life, I was truly scared of him. "What-what're you going to—"

Lance smirked. "This."

And he reached under my shirt and began to tickle me.

Immediately, I was howling and thrashing about with laughter, beating my fists on the ground. Taking a risk, Lance slid his other hand to join the first, doubling my "punishment" so acutely that I felt teardrops of hilarity well up in my eyes. We tumbled around like that together, Lance occasionally interjecting things like "Oh, so you like that, huh?" and "Be quiet! I'm trying to discipline you!" with a huge grin on his face and myself flailing around like a Magikarp out of water, choking on hysterics until my throat hurt. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a Doduo watching us with curiosity, exchanging glances between their two heads and squawking before dashing away from the weird humans.

Soon, we both ran out of zest and collapsed on the huge bed of flattened grass, panting with weariness. Unthinkingly, I rolled over on my side to face Lance, sweat trickling down my forehead with the intensity of a pulsing river. Lance was smiling as he stared at me, the irritation in his expression now having faded to what appeared to be love reflecting his sharp golden eyes. Gulping, I felt a shiver creep through my skin, but I couldn't tear myself away from his gaze.

"Hey," I whispered, hoarse from my loud and somewhat feminine giggling.

"Hey yourself," Lance replied with a twinkle in his eye.

I buried my face into the smoothed out green. "I'm sorry," I apologized with a groan. "I shouldn't have pushed you away like that and acted like such a… such a woman. I just didn't know what to do. Nobody has ever kissed me before."

I felt Lance reach over with a minute rustle and pluck blades of grass from my hair. "I should be the one apologizing, you know," he stated matter-of-factly. "It was me who made the gaffe. I was just so overcome by my feelings that I couldn't help myself. I've been smothering those for quite a while, you know."

Raising my now dirt-infested face from the ground, I gave Lance a skeptical look. "You're Lance the Dragon Master," I said blandly. "You aren't supposed to have feelings. Duh. Everybody in Kanto and Johto knows that."

Lance licked his thumb and used it to wipe the earth away from my cheek like a fussing mother, a deep chuckle infusing his normal baritone. "Forgive me for breaking it to you," he said, "but he does have feelings." He brought the finger away as I wrinkled my nose at him for the paternal gesture and wiped it on his leg.

I made a gesture toward his cape, which was draped over his torso. "That thing is covered in grass stains," I said.

Lance took it in his thumb and forefinger and inspected his most important accessory. "Oh," he grunted. "So it is. Oh well. Nothing laundry detergent won't fix."

"You said you've been hiding them for quite a while," I pointed out. "How long, exactly?"

In the quickest flash, Lance was on top of me, straddling my lower body with his sturdy, strapping legs. Pinning my wrists gently with his hands, his eyes burrowed fathomlessly into mine as he stared at me with such fondness that my heartbeat sped up. "Months, Silver," he murmured, as if there were witnesses and he only wanted me to hear what he was about to say. "Soon after you moved in to be my student, in fact. I've dated countless women and broke hearts and had mine broken, but nobody has swayed me quite like you have. I found myself making more mistakes in battle and training, forgetting the smallest things, all because you occupied my mind the entire time. I… I came to not just want you, but need you. When you left to train solo, I felt that there was something missing. You weren't there—I couldn't hear your voice, smell your scent, pat you on the back when you did something correctly." Lance inhaled deeply and swallowed. "Silver… I love you. I know you're young—we have a decade between us—but I won't do anything you aren't comfortable with. I learned that this morning. Let me be your first everything."

I wanted to cry. "Lance, I…" I couldn't possibly tell him. I had feelings—even if they were negligible—for him, but they would never rival the way I felt about Gold. Still, I couldn't deny the way Lance stared at me—he was utterly and perhaps madly in love, while Gold only saw a friend in me. Gold was unthinkable.

But Lance was within reach.

_Maybe it's time to move on._

"… I love you too, Lance."

Lance smiled so broadly that it touched his eyes, glittering with joy and affection. "Oh," he breathed. "You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that."

Leaning down, he covered his lips with mine, and I let my body melt together with his.

And this time, Gold wasn't in my thoughts.


End file.
